Rios: No shame in losing to Pacquiao

ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines – Boxer Brandon Rios said he isn't ashamed about his loss to Manny Pacquiao in Macau last year.

The Mexican-American suffered a lopsided, unanimous verdict against the Filipino champion in that fight, but Rios said he is no longer disheartened by the defeat.

“Against Pacquiao, there’s no disappointment in that. Everyone loses to Pacquiao. I lost to one of the best,” Rios, who is set to make a ring return against Diego Chavez on Saturday, said in RingTV.

He, however, said he made changes in his training to make sure that he will make a successful comeback in Las Vegas this weekend.

The changes he implemented includes doing away with strength coaches.

“I’m not trying to make an excuse or nothing, but I think since I’ve been working with strength and conditioning coaches my last few fights, I lost. I had a strength and conditioning coach in my loss to [Mike] Alvarado and one with Pacquiao. And I lost,” said Rios.

The last conditioning coach that worked with Rios was former Team Pacquiao member, Alex Ariza. After the Pacquiao fight, Rios was found positive for a banned substance.

“I’m a physically strong guy as it is. So I think all of the extra workouts kind of drained me. It killed me. Maybe that’s what it is. This time, we’re going back to (what) we used to do back in the day when I was winning, when I was having great outcomes in my fights. Train my butt off in the gym, eat right, and be ready. That’s what we’ve been doing and that’s what is going to happen,” said Rios.